It’s biting wit and sharp criticisms of expression and art help to elevate it all above the early 2000s Skinemax framework, letting it’s freak flag fly while delivering plenty of comedy and backdoor-ing (pun intended) its themes in the process.
Author: Derrick Murray
Derrick Murray
Derrick Murray is a Los Angeles based stand up comedian, writer, and co-host for The Jack of All Nerds Show.
There’s nothing quite like seeing a premiere on a festival midnight slate. The crowd is hype and electric, bursting with laughs and cheers and hollers – and that’s all before the title card even drops. “Buddy” benefits greatly from this kind of ruckus crowd, the energy fueling its overall enjoyment and at times picking up some slack for what the film lacks overall. It’s a whole lot of ideas that choose psychotic execution over fleshed out conclusions, leaving a bit of a mixed bag that rests on the laurels of a hyped crowd and major vibes check. And honestly, that’s…
“Tuner” simply lacks for nothing across the board of great, crowd pleasing cinema. It is convention done right, sticking to the proven formulas of crime capers and simultaneously giving you everything you know while also giving you something that feels fresh and unique.
We’ve been hard at work covering as many films as we can ahead of Sundance Film Festival 2026! There’s no shortage of great films and new discoveries, and we’re excited to experience everything the festival has to offer when we touch down in Park City later this month. For now, we’ve got another collection of films we want to highlight ahead of Sundance! So here are 5 more films we recommend checking out. “Joybubbles” I had never heard of Joybubbles, born Josef Carl Engressia Jr. until I watched “Joybubbles,” and now I will remember him forever. An early Phone Phreak…
A new year brings new movies, and kicking things off as usual is the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. A beautiful haven for independent and documentary filmmaking, Sundance celebrates its last year in Park City, Utah before moving to Boulder, CO in 2027. We are so excited to return to the snow covered mountains and secluded ski town to discover new films and set the precedent for the rest of the year. With so many films to choose from, we’ve been hard at work sifting through the slate and trying to catch as many as we possibly can. Thankfully, we’ve been…
More of a character study and bit more melodramatic than its propulsive predecessor, “Greenland 2” is still a worthy successor to an underrated success, one that is sure to be satisfactory for fans even if it at times feels like a retread of diminishing returns.
“Primate” keeps its premise simply, its violence gnarly, its runtime lean and mean, and its effects practical. It is pure, unadulterated monkey business, owning every part of its wacky premise and giving you exactly what you asked for every chance it gets.
There’s a beautiful blend of urgency and slow burn in “We Bury the Dead,” keeping the pace moving but keeping us hooked on the character study of its protagonist rather than drop us into one violent, blood soaked clash with decaying bodies after another.
Well, we’ve come to that seminal moment of every year where we scroll through the hundreds and hundreds of films we watched and try to somehow identify the best of them. This year was particularly hard, not because there were so many greats (honestly I don’t think there were) but because the good section is extremely robust. The amount of 4-star films this year probably exceeds the previous two combined, which makes the top 5 relatively easy and the rest of the rankings an absolute bloodbath. I liked so many films equally, so trying to split hairs on an equal…
It’s great to see so many movies each year, going out of your way to consume cinema from around the world as much as you can. But the downside is the amount of films you want to highlight and talk about gets longer and longer, and there really just isn’t enough time in a year to give every film their proper due. So, as we work toward the final list of the Best of the Year, I wanted to take some time to acknowledge some films that flew under the radar or were rather difficult to track down. Sometimes incredible…